familypediawikiaorg-20200214-history
Nathan Bennett Baldwin (1812-1891)
}} Biography Nathan Bennett Baldwin, a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy. Flight from the British He was born Jan. 27, 1812, at Augusta, Granville county, Upper Canada, the third child of eleven born to Aaron Muson Baldwin and Julia Bishop. His father was an American pressed into service by the British along the Canadian border and while his mother was pregnant. After his birth, his family made a daring escaped across the St. Lawrence River. Becoming a convert to the restored gospel, he was baptized April 28, 1833, by John Gould, and ordained a Priest Oct. 24, 1833. Zions Camp Participant One of the most interesting episodes in the early history of LDS Church was the march of Zion's Camp (1834). The members of the Church in Missouri were being persecuted, and the Prophet Joseph made it a matter of prayer and received a revelation on February 24, 1834. The Lord instructed the Prophet to assemble at least one hundred young and middle-aged men and to go to the land of Zion, or Missouri. (See D&C 130:19–34.) Zion’s Camp, a group of approximately one hundred and fifty men, gathered at Kirtland, Ohio, in the spring of 1834 and marched to Jackson County, Missouri. By the time they reached Missouri, the camp had increased to approximately two hundred men. In 1834, Badlwin was a member of the Zion's Camp (1834) expedition on which journey he became intimately acquainted with the Prophet Joseph Smith (1805-1844). * Nathan's experience in Zion's Camp is documented in The Acceptable Offering of Zion's Camp - LDS Church History D&C Revelations in Context. Twenty-two-year-old Nathan Baldwin was startled when, in the midst of preaching the gospel in Connecticut in February 1834, he felt a prompting to “go west.”1 Nathan, who was born in 1812 in Augusta Township in Upper Canada’s Grenville County, had been baptized on April 28, 1833, and had spent time since then preaching in the eastern United States. He quickly obeyed the prompting to go west. “I immediately turned my face to the west,” he wrote, “and began to retrace my steps, asking the question at the same time, what shall I go west for?” When he arrived in Oswegatchie, New York, a young man named Reuben Foote told him that the Saints had been ejected from Jackson County, Missouri, in the fall of 1833 and that the Prophet Joseph Smith was planning to lead an expedition to help those displaced Church members. Nathan felt he now understood why the Lord had sent him west﻿—so that he could join the expedition. LDS Quorum of Seventy Created by the Mormon Prophet Joseph Smith (1805-1844) in early 1835, the Quorum of Seventy was to act as traveling and presiding ministers for the newly created The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Many of these men performed notable works for the early church, living near then church headquarters in Kirtland, Ohio. The Quorum of Seventy itself did not meet as a governing body of the church and was not renewed until reorganized by the church in 1976. Early in 1835 Nathan was ordained a Seventy by Sidney Rigdon and became a member of the first quorum of Seventy. Later, at Nauvoo, Illinois, he was set apart as a president of the 21st quorum and he afterwards became senior president of that quorum. On January 5, 1839, Elder Baldwin married Sarah Ann Pine. Later he would practice plural marriage, also taking Margaret Ohler, Oler, or Cler as wives. After his arrival in Utah, he was advised by Pres. Brigham Young to locate in Fillmore, Millard county, where he resided until his death. When the 21st quorum of Seventy was located in Millard county, Brother Baldwin was continued as senior president of the same, which position he held until the time of his death, which ensued from general debility Nov. 1, 1891, at Fillmore. Brother Baldwin was a faithful, humble man, possessing the love and respect of all who knew him, and died in full faith of the gospel. Only a few days after his death, his aged wife, Sarah, the partner of his youth, followed him to the other side. References * Nathan Baldwin - Grandpa Bill's GA Pages * Nathan Baldwin, Account of Zion’s Camp, 7–8. * The Acceptable Offering of Zion's Camp Category: LDS Quorum of Seventy